This is a regular column by Mark Knudson. It emphasizes the author’s own thoughts, personal preferences and conclusions.

There was a time when all the hockey players wanted to play for the Colorado Avalanche. Those days seem like a long time ago.

There was a time when Matt Duchene, growing up in Ontario, Canada, worshipped the Colorado Avalanche. Posters on the wall and the whole bit. Then he became the third overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Avalanche.

It was a match made in heaven, right?

Duchene was supposed to be part of a young Avalanche core that would return the franchise to the glory days of the early 2000s. He made his debut with the team just a few months after he was drafted and was an immediate success. He helped the Avs secure a playoff spot with an overtime goal against Vancouver.

In 2013, he signed a five-year, $30 million contract extension.

Then it wasn’t.

The Avs brought back legend Patrick Roy as head coach, and he led the club to the top of the division in the spring of 2014. But Roy’s style and Duchene didn’t mesh, according to people close to the team. The following season, as the club failed to meet expectations from the prior year, tensions mounted and trade rumors began. Duchene didn’t react kindly to the idea of being traded at first, then did a turnaround and asked to be out.

The childhood dream wasn’t working.

He wasn’t alone in bailing on the Avalanche. Other core members like Paul Stastny (free agency) and Ryan O’Reilly (traded to Buffalo) left before Duchene was finally traded last week to the Ottawa Senators. The Avalanche appear to have done well in bringing back no less than four quality NHL players, including young defenseman Samuel Girard, and three draft picks. Not bad for someone — albeit an established first line center — who didn’t want to be here any longer.

Duchene’s public desire to be dealt lingered for more than a year. It hung over the team’s locker room like a dark cloud. Teammates knew he didn’t want to play with them any longer, and when the trade finally happened, it did so in the middle of the game. Duchene was showered and gone before the final horn sounded. No long goodbyes.

Hard feelings?

It’s hard to imagine there were not some in the Avs locker room who had grown to dislike their former teammate. Ironically, Duchene’s first two games as a Senator came against Colorado in a pair of games played in Stockholm, Sweden, over the weekend. Avs fans wondered about the possibility of physical confrontations between former teammates.

Nothing like that happened. The Duchene-less Avs struggled with penalties and missed scoring chances. The enators beat Colorado on in both games, even though Duchene didn’t register a point.

Athletes — even great ones — sometimes have a delusional idea of what life will be like on another team. I played with permanently disgruntled slugger Gary Sheffield during his early years with the Milwaukee Brewers. After being a first-round pick and having a quick rise through the minor leagues, Sheffield made his big-league debut with Milwaukee in 1988.

The organization did everything they could for Shef, yet he was always unhappy, and made it known he wanted to be traded because he thought — falsely — that the organization was racist for playing him at third base instead of shortstop. In the spring of 1992, the Brewers traded him to the beautiful city of San Diego, where he almost won the Triple Crown that season.

Teammates, including childhood friend Fred McGriff, tried to be his friend. Didn’t work. The Padres had to trade him early in the 1993 season.

Sheffield ended up playing for eight different teams in 21 major league seasons. He found on-field success at every stop but never happiness.

Perhaps Duchene will find happiness in Ottawa. His trade was not a money issue; it was about wanting to be somewhere else. Will he be a star in Ottawa? Probably. Facing his former team in his first game(s) is unnerving, I know. I faced my former team in my first game after being traded and my former roommate hit a home run off me.

However, Duchene being the talented player he is will undoubtedly help make Ottawa a better team in the short term. For the long term? Who knows? No guarantee he will find that happiness in Ottawa.

Those who remain in the Avs locker room speak of improved chemistry, which would seem obvious. But only time will tell if on the ice, this is addition by subtraction, or just another subtraction.